Thursday, October 18, 2007

Here is a live recording of Metabolist from 1978!!! This post is provided by the kind Frans de Waard. A note from Frans:

'this tape was given to me many years ago when
Edward Ka-spel lived almost around my corner. He had a big box of
tapes and when browsing through it, I found this, and Edward said I
could keep it. The ink on the tape is worn out, but it reads
'metabolist 20/7/78' and then 'actionspart', although the word 'part'
is hard to read. This year I transferred it for a friend of mine, but
didn't index it - Frans de Waard'

I was going to try and identify as many titles as possible but I have been short on spare time these
days. Here is what I have so far based on memory or titles announced on the recording:

Side A:
track one - Curly Wall
track two - Pinstripe??
track three - Rainy Day (possibly a cover of It's a Rainy Day Sunshine Girl by Faust)
track four - ?? can anyone tell what he says this track is called at the end??
track five - I Can't Identify (Identify) (about 45 seconds)

Side B:track one - I Can't Identify (Identify) (the remaining 90 seconds)track two - ??track three - ?? (over 20 min long, Eulam's Beat and 'Any News'??)track four - I Don't Want Totrack five - The Big One If anyone else figures out the other track titles, leave a comment and I'll update the tracklist.This is the first live recording I've ever encountered from Metabolist and the first time in over ten years since I've heard 'new to me' recordings from them. If you ever encounter Frans or Edward in the future be sure to buy them a drink and thank them for providing this recording. Side A Side B

update...thanks to Mondara:the gig that this is a recording of was at Action Space, Chenies Street, London. So the cassette must read "Action Space"

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Some info on a DJ set of mine this Friday. It will be a short one (around 20 minutes) as they are inviting back all the guest DJs from the past five years to celebrate five years of the best indie/jangle rock/pop night in DC. Since the set will be so short, I plan to do all covers; either indie bands covering other songs, or indie songs covered by other bands.

Here is some more info from the Kaiser:

Well, as the story goes, the Pisser started a few months after Soundclash did, all those years ago. And actually, I wrote about that story already, so just go here and scroll down:

Also be sure to click on the 1019.mix for this month's "Streaming Piss" at http://dcsoundclash.com/. You know you like it.

And now for the event itself. We've invited back every deejay and guest deejay from our 5 year history. What's the end result of that? 15 deejays this Friday night (possibly more), each doing a 20-min set, putting their personal stamp on the evening and showing you the wide range of perfectly framed indie pop moments. We'll have much of DC's indie pop illuminati working it that night - musicians, deejays, and gladhanders like myself. Specifically, on hand will be representatives of Velocity Girl, Barcelona, Eggs, the Antiques, Lorelei, Boyracer, Parlor Scouts, BLISS, We Fought the Big One, the First Ladies DJ Collective, and that's enough already. Crazy rhythms, all night. Blink and you'll miss a set.

Commemorative pins are in the works. Come and get one and celebrate with us.

Tuesday, October 9, 2007

Following up on the last post.... Here is the Camera 3 cassette - Love Like Acid released on Simon Millward's Cassette King label.

On this recording, drummer Mark Rowlatt from Metabolist is replaced by K. Shillingford. Needless to say, the drumming here is quite different. This could have more to do with the slower tempo on these tracks compared to the 7". The only time the tempo really picks up here (on the last track), the drums aren't quite driving the music along as they did on their previous recordings.

The title track begins with a bass kick and rim shots like Bauhaus - Bela Lugosi's Dead. This track ends abruptly into the next track (Exploitation), so they are combined in this rip.

Does anyone have any other info on Camera 3 or the Cassette King label?
This cassette was the first release on the label, # 2 was Stagmanaut by Metabolist and #4 was Dots on the Eyes by Legendary Pink Dots. Does anyone know what #3 was or if there were other releases after #4??

As promised, here is the one (and only to my knowledge) 7" by Camera 3. There are several Metabolist connections here. The 7" was produced by Simon Millward and Anton Loach while Mark Rowlatt played the drums. This session was also recorded in the Metabolist studio.

The B-side, The Solution to All Problems has a strong Metabolist feel, both in the drums and the production, particularly the slight phase shifting of the drums that sound a lot like Neu! as well.

The slight distortion throughout both sides, especially in the louder vocal parts, appears to be in the pressing. This was just ripped today with a one week old needle and subsequent records played after this are not distorting.

Monday, October 1, 2007

Here is the other Metabolist cassette - Stagmanaut, released in 1981 on the Cassette King label. If I had to settle on one, this would be my 'favorite' Metabolist release, primarily due to the musical variety across the cassette.

Unfortunately, this also turned out to be the last Metabolist release. What have they done since? Malcolm Lane released an LP the following year w/ Max Headroom titled Max & Malcolm. Mutant Sounds posted this excellent LP a while back here. Malcolm (and Karl Blake) contributed guitar on the The Decoration of the Duma Continues LP by Pump in 1987. I have also seen a cassette titled Macac on various want lists (my own included), but have never seen/heard a copy.

Drummer Mark Rowlatt appears to have been the most musically prolific post-Metabolist. He has drummed for the following groups in live and/or studio settings: Shock Headed Peters, Camera 3, Luxuria, and Ectomorph (not the techno group(s)). Mark also contributed to a rock operetta (a la Magma) with a member of Ectomorph titled 'A Perfect Action', about, of all things - cricket!!!

Simon Millward appears as a producer on both the Camera 3 cassette and 7". I've also been told on good authority he has worked with the Legendary Pink Dots, but I'm not sure if this was studio or live (or if any of it has ever been released).

Any info about other post-Metabolist recordings/appearances is greatly appreciated!!!

The first side of Stagmanaut starts with the industrial soundscape of Cranes, which segues into Ymuzgo, a percussive and spacey piece (in a noisy sort of way), with some vocals and scraping guitars. Pigface builds into a percussion-driven pounder that, not to digress too far here, came to mind the other night while watching a live performance from These Are Powers, who hail from Brooklyn - probably because this track was still fresh in my head.

Side two begins with Johnny Loves You, a slower track with the oft-repeated lyrics "Johnny loves You, and that's fine". After a bit of an intro, Glory builds to bear a resemblance to Joy Division and is possibly the closest they came to sounding like a "rock" group with straightforward guitar, bass, drums & vocals. Quack Backwards ends the tape with metallic percussion similar to early 23 Skidoo percussion workouts and eventually cuts into what can be called 'post-rock in an era of post-punk' similar to some of the best output from This Heat.

If there is any interest, I can post the Camera 3 cassette & 7" - leave a comment!!!